Every
once in a long while, MTV will do something so great that I temporarily
forget that it has essentially become a 24/7 showcase for my two least
favorite types of people, pregnant teenagers and cheesin' juice heads.

But this bit of greatness arrives in the form of a special "Live in NYC"
performance with everyone's favorite angsty Ohioans, THE NATIONAL

UPDATE: The previous headline on this post mistakenly suggested that Dropkick Murphys were performing at the Wisconsin labor rallies on Friday. They are not. The band will be performing a long-scheduled show on Friday following a Milwaukee Admirals/Chicago Wolves game. Sorry for the confusion. SEND PIZZA

ALOUD may be the hardest workin' band in Boston... you know, that's never actually in Boston. Tonight Henry Beguiristain, Jen de la Osa, & Co. kick off the second leg of their massive Exile tour with a show at the Double Door in Chicago, the first of 29 cross-country dates through the end of March that includes a pitstop at SXSW.

Fresh off a tough week -- getting pwned at the Grammys by Berklee poster gal Esperanza Spaulding; that Scotty Pippin reality check at the all-star game -- Justin Bieber has reportedly cut his hair to make a video with Rascall Flats. Not sure which part of this should frighten Beliebers more: the fact that he's shorn his trademark locks or the part about hanging around with those ultra-skeevy Rascall Flatts dudes.

Hey, happy Thursday -- a brand new track from THE CARS was posted on YouTube earlier today. "Blue Tip" is a smooth, blippy little synthpop number, but uhh... on the first few listens, that first vocal verse kinda sounds like the theme song to Full House. Hey, whatever happened to personality, the milkman, the paperboy, and evening TV?

We’re stretching it out a bit this week, swapping our usual indie rock, hip-hop, and electro-pop singles for an all of the above 43-minute mix from Boston veteran DJ KNIFE. The Good Life resident hip-hop/pop mix-master dropped “Strange Brew” on an unsuspecting interweb last month, and with spring right around the corner it’s time to start planning those extended weekend road trip soundtracks.

Boston's new indie-pop darlings NAKED ON ROLLER SKATES celebrated the release of the band's debut EP on Saturday, February 12 at Great Scott. Thanks to merch cohort, Erica Truncale, there was even a pair of old school roller skates in attendance. Naked On Roller Skates is Leesa Coyne (vocals, guitar), Kelly Davidson (bass), Travis Richter (lead guitar) and Randall Creasi (drums).

Earlier this month Celtic/bluegrass bandits THREE DAY THRESHOLD traveled half-way around the world to perform live for US troops stationed in Djibouti, Qatar, Kuwait, and other base locations within the Air Force Central Command Area of Responsibility.

It's not so easy nowadays to play the J.D. Salinger card in today's everything-is-revealed music world, and the latest artist to cave in to the overwhelming pressure to stop being a doof and get in the van is reclusive NEUTRAL MILK HOTEL main man JEFF MANGUM.

A few weeks ago, he announced a couple of solo shows as part of this fall's Portishead-curated All Tomorrow's Parties event, I'll Be Your Mirror (9/30-10/2 in Asbury Park, NJ) but any level-headed NMH-head Boston-ite would have known to hold back the impulse to get out the old credit card, as clearly a tour would be imminent as soon as ATP became moderately sold out, which it did very quickly.